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Pride Days gets off to good start

Free swimming, a family carnival, an open house at the Historical Museum and the "Guns & Hoses" Softball Tournament were among the many activities happening Friday for Blackfoot Pride Days. Business leaders and members of the community were enjoying the events to the fullest.
Chantel Bame, manager of the Blackfoot Municipal Swimming Pool, didn't mind a bit letting everyone swim for free on Friday.
"I absolutely love Pride Days," she said. "The community is so good to us all year long, it's nice to have this opportunity to give back to the community. Blackfoot is filled with good people."
Bame said about 200 people took advantage of the free swim day.
At Jensen Grove, the family carnival was going on throughout the day complete with foods booths, vendors and activities for the kids.
Brenda Pelayo Lora said, "My daughter absolutely loved getting a glitter tattoo and her nails done at the Broncadet Beauty
Booth."
The Entrepreneur Club booth sold Mexican corn and soft drinks from their booth at the carnival, while a handful of the middle school-aged kids, rolled a cooler around selling cold water and sodas to hot and thirsty people throughout the park to raise money for a trip to Lagoon. The club is part of the Blackfoot Activity Center.
Other booths featured popular treats such as cotton candy, snow cones, corn dogs and hamburgers.
The Idaho Potato Museum offered tours for just $1 with kids getting in free. In the past, the museum visits were free during Pride Days, however, executive director Tish Dahmen said they had to charge a small fee this year to help cover some of the museum's operating costs.
"This is an opportunity to show off our museum to those in our own community who otherwise wouldn't have taken the time to stop in," Dahmen said. "Whether our visitors are from out of town or right here in our own backyard, people always say after visiting the museum 'that they'll never look at an Idaho potato the same way again.' "
A new tradition starting on Friday was the "Guns and Hoses" softball game between the Blackfoot Police Department/Bingham County Sheriff 's officers and the Blackfoot Fire Department. The game is a fundraiser for the Blackfoot Firefighters Burnout Fund that provides funds to those who have suffered a loss due to fire or other disaster to assist with lodging or food.
Blackfoot Pride Days festivities continue today with some of the big events including the free community breakfast, free potato feed, free airplane rides, the snow machine races, the Ping Pong ball drop and new this year the Walgreens vs. Walmart kickball tournament at the Airport Park, a fundraiser for Blackfoot High School.
For schedule updates go to www.blackfootpridedays.org or find Blackfoot Pride Days on Facebook.